Monday, 15 December 2008

Scrap Dartford Crossing charges

I am today announcing my support for the campaign to scrap the Dartford Crossing charges. Local residents who use the Crossing for work have been in touch and are fed up, not least because the charges were supposed to be scrapped once the Crossing had been paid for - which happened five years ago!!

One gentleman who has been in touch with me pointed out the inconsistencies of the new charging scheme. If he lived in Thurrock but worked in Medway, then he would get to cross for free but with it being vice versa he has to pay. Residents of Medway working in Thurrock are being unfairly penalised simply by going to work. In a further inconsistency the same gentleman is registered disabled meaning if he were to drive into London he would be exempt from the congestion charge - however this is not the same for the Dartford Crossing.

This campaign to scrap bridge crossing charges is not the first - two bridges in Scotland have had their tolls removed because it was considered unfair by local MP Gordon Brown. At the moment Medway's motorists are being betrayed by this stealth tax. The charges are clearly just a road toll and not a measure to reduce congestion and it is about time the Government owned up to it. And if tolls are unfair in Gordon Brown's constituency then they are unfair here too.

It's four bridges in Scotland had their toll's removed. The first was the Skye bridge which Labour (and the Lib Dems)threw in as an election bribe to the Highlands and Islands, followed by the Erskine bridge, again another bribe to their salary vote. They tried to keep them for the Forth and Tay bridges but that cause such a stoochie that the SNP then used their removal as an effective election pledge. The tolls on the Forth Road bridge were also only supposed to pay for it's construction but they kept finding new things to spend the money on, including Edinburgh's trams.To get rid of them you need a high profile campaign and make it politically painful for thoes who want to keep them.Good luck.

Hear hear! The increase from £1 to £1.50 just adds insult to injury, and it has resulted in chaos as motorists find themselves in the wrong lane because they need change. I watched a six car shunt due to lane changing, and the impeded flow now backs up a half mile regularly because of the number of cars that take twice as long to pay this tax. Its got to stop. Give us back our roads - we've paid already!